Tag Archive: solo canoe

What is a Catamaran?

Typically, a Catamaran, a.k.a. ‘Cat’ is a twin hulled watercraft that features two slender, parallel hulls of equal size, and a wide structure that’s connected to the upper sides of these hulls, holding them together at a big distance from each other. This structure makes the typical catamaran a geometry-stabilized craft, deriving its lateral stability from its wide beam and the distribution of its buoyancy along its sides, rather than from a ballasted hull, which lowers the boat’s center of gravity (CG), as a typical monohull (single hull) boat does. The catamaran’s two hulls combined often have a smaller hydrodynamic resistance than monohulls of comparable size, and therefore require less propulsive power. Catamarans range in size from small sailing boats and motorboats to large ships and ferries. The structure connecting a catamaran’s twin hulls can vary from a simple, lightweight frame to a bridging superstructure, namely deck from which the catamaran is operated, and can be used for carrying freight and passengers.

Is the Wavewalk a Catamaran?

The Wavewalk resembles a catamaran, but it is not a one in the full sense. The Wavewalk design is based on a proprietary (patented) invention – a new type of small watercraft. This patent is entitled “Twin Hull Personal Watercraft”, which is revealing of the fact that a Wavewalk is meant to serve one person, or a small number of persons, and closely interact with them. A Wavewalk is designed around the person and for that person, and it offers them the optimal means to balance themselves. Wavewalk and user are an integrated system that can achieve the most stability in a watercraft of similar size and even bigger ones. Unlike a typical catamaran, a Wavewalk is narrow – It is slightly wider than its operator, similarly to typical monohull paddle craft such as kayaks and canoes. The user of a Wavewalk operates the boat neither from one of its hulls nor from the top of a deck-like structure that bridges the hulls. Instead, the Wavewalk user operates it from within, with a leg in each of the boat’s two hulls. The user’s feet rest firmly on the bottom of the hulls, below waterline, namely as low as possible. And this is the main difference between a Wavewalk and a typical, wide catamaran – The Wavewalk is a smaller and narrower watercraft whose design offers a hull for each of its user’s legs, and the means for them to balance themselves effortlessly, intuitively, and with the maximum effect. In sum, the Wavewalk is different from a typical catamaran in that it is not a pure form-stabilized boat, but one that combines more than one feature and approach in order to maximize stability*

Another difference between the Wavewalk and a typical catamaran is the form of the structure that connects its twin hulls. This structure is called the Saddle, because it resembles the type of seat found in personal watercraft (PWC) a.k.a. ‘Jet-Ski’, snowmobiles, and all-terrain vehicles (ATV), all of which are high-performance personal vehicles.

If not a catamaran, is the Wavewalk a kayak, a boat, a PWC?

Thanks to its overall size, dimensions, and primary propulsion by means of a dual blade paddle, the authorities, namely the US Coast Guard, officially classify the Wavewalk as a kayak. Motorizing a Wavewalk with an electric or gas outboard motor does not change this basic classification, and when its owner registers it at the local DMV, they register it as a kayak with a motor, and not as a full fledged motorboat, and this is a good thing both for all parties involved, namely the manufacturer, dealer and owner of the Wavewalk.

The Wavewalk is considerably more stable than kayaks are, including the wide fishing kayaks. It tracks better than kayaks, and paddles infinitely better in strong wind, which is why it does not require a rudder. The Wavewalk also offers much more storage space. But most importantly, unlike monohull kayaks that force their users to paddle seated in the notoriously uncomfortable L posture, the Wavewalk is back pain free, since it offers it users to comfortably ride its ergonomic saddle, with a leg on each side of their body.

The unique combination of maximal stability and better ergonomics makes the Wavewalk such a perfect match for a motor.

A personal watercraft (PWC)?

Riding the saddle of a motorized Wavewalk® 700 at over 10 mph is an exhilarating sensation that may remind the driver of driving a PWC, but the latter type of watercraft feature much more powerful engines, and can go much faster than a Wavewalk. Additionally, PWC are designed for instant full recovery in case they capsize, which is not the case with a motorized Wavewalk, although outfitting a Wavewalk with inflatable side flotation greatly reduces the probability of it capsizing.

A boat?

Even a small boat is still much wider than a kayak, or canoe, which is why it’s practically impossible to paddle a boat to any meaningful distance. This extra width gives a boat a significant stability advantage over kayaks and canoes, and typically, a normal size person can stand on one side of a boat without tipping over. But a normal size person can do this in a Wavewalk® 700 too, and this unique fact places the Wavewalk® 700 in a class of its own – a kayak that offers the stability of a small boat. Motorized, a Wavewalk® 700 offers the performance of a small boat, on top of its unique and unrivaled performance in terms of mobility, comfort, storage space, etc.

What about A canoe?

Canoes can be very big, and transport dozens of passengers. The popular North American recreational canoes that measure up to 17 ft in length can take 3 to 4 adult passengers on board. While Wavewalks work perfectly with single-blade (canoe) paddles, both solo and in tandem, they can carry less payload than large size canoes do. However, a Wavewalk tracks better than a canoe does, and unlike canoes, it is easy to paddle in strong wind.

… and a motorized canoe?

A motorized square-stern canoe performs much like a lightweight dinghy, and as such it doesn’t work very well as a dedicated paddle craft, namely a canoe…. In addition, it is usually less stable than a typical dinghy, which is wider. Thanks to its slender, parallel twin hulls, the Wavewalk® 700 tracks better than a motorized canoe, it’s more stable, and being narrower it paddles better as well. Driving a Wavewalk® 700 is easier too, thanks to the ergonomics of its saddle, and the fact that the motor is located closer to the middle of the boat, away from its stern, which improves balance.

Skiff?

In the sense that it works well as a skiff, namely a small, flat bottomed boat used for fishing in flats, estuaries and protected bays, yes, a motorized Wavewalk® 700 is an ultra lightweight, trailer-free micro skiff, and it can even be outfitted with a bow mounted electric trolling motor powered by a battery fed by the alternator in a small stern mounted outboard motor. This said, its form is very different.

A couple days ago, I launched my W700 for the first time. It has taken a couple weeks to get my stone crab traps set up and dropped overboard from my commercial fishing boat “Line Dancer”. This vessel, a 27′ Lindsey w/ a B-series Cummins diesel, will make a fine mother ship to transport the W700 and my W500 to the Everglades, wrecks, reefs, and Gulf Stream waters surrounding Key Largo.

My initial observations include:

The W700 is the ideal family or couples vessel for economy and ease of transport. Where will you find a tandem yak that combines the best qualities of a kayak, canoe, catamaran, stand-up paddle board, and micro-skiff in one boat?

The W700 really is a magic boat. Not only is the W700 more stable and roomy than the W500 (which was the most stable yak I had previously used), the air tight buoyancy straddle seat is a major safety improvement. The center holes in the separately molded flotation seat can be used as rod holders. I plan to install a removable PVC post in one to hold a waterproof GoPro camera for videos.

Though a double paddle works fine to propel the W700, I prefer to use a canoe paddle. The W700 and W500 Wavewalks actually solo paddle easier than a canoe but you should know the J-stroke, sweep stroke, and other canoe paddling techniques to use a canoe paddle effectively.

Presently, I do not intend to make major mods to the W700. But, in time, there will be fore and aft motor brackets for both gas and electric motors as well as an anchor bracket and rod holders.

It is obvious, that the W700 is a great addition to the Wavewalk series but the W500 will travel with me up and down the East Coast from the Chesapeake to the Keys by truck bed or car top. The W500 is more portable for a solo yakker. Thus, it still has an important place in the product line.

I know many of the Wavewalk owners have put away their vessels for the winter. But, the temperature in the Keys is in the 70 degree range and the skies are mostly blue and sunny. So, there is still great fishing and boating to be found here in the Caribbean of the U.S.

The problem here was that part of the tarp that covered the swimming pool fell into the water, and then the whole surface froze over. This video shows the W500 being used to break the ice and retrieve the tarp so that it could be properly reattached around the pool. Using the kayak in a canoeing mode made more sense because the short canoe paddle works better in such a restricted space, and it’s more effective for breaking the ice.

Here in Minnesota we’re already switching to ice fishing, which is very popular.

Arij van der Kooij is a well known name among paddlers in Holland, and one of the country’s expert canoeists. Arij is the founder of the large company named Outdoor Valley (formerly Tiekano) in Bergschenhoek, which imported to Holland some of the best known canoe brands. After selling his company, he is now busy with his canoeing school named Herbie Bird, and his website solokano.nl

When he first saw the Wavewalk W500, Arij liked its unique canoe catamaran form, although the W500 isn’t long (3.45 m) and struck Arij as very narrow (72 cm).

After taking the W kayak for a test run, Arij had a number of things to say about it:

– The Wavewalk is a great tracker, and yet very agile

– The Wavewalk is very stable, and you can safely stand upright in it and paddle

– The Wavewalk offers a lot of storage space.

– You can paddle the Wavewalk both as a kayak and as a canoe, by using different paddles, respectively

– You feel very comfortable in the Wavewalk. It is actually a canoe and not a kayak, because you paddle it sitting on an elevated saddle, and not sitting low like you do in a kayak